1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a system or method of teaching a student how to learn mental and/or physical steps or tasks. More particularly, the present invention relates to an instructional method of teaching the cognitive relationships between elements in a set by practicing various patterns of logical arrangements of a primary element and its connections to related elements. The present instructional method is useful for developing teaching lessons so that a student is able to efficiently learn and retain material such as, for example, typing lessons, a musical instrument, a foreign language, mathematics, test taking skills, and like logical thought processes.
2. Prior Art
Prior to the present invention, cognitively retaining mental and/or physical steps or tasks meant practicing a series of known sequences of the subject matter that was intended to be learned. For teaching typing, various devices and methods for that purpose are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,501,849 to Olsen, 3,611,586 to Kuramochi, 4,185,400 to Gall, John C. et al., 4,253,248 to Cornish, 4,465,477 to AvGavaar, 4,650,349 to Westreich, 4,690,644 to Flanders et al., 4,902,231 to Freer and 4,909,739 to Ladner et al.
Generally, the prior art methods and devices teach typing by practicing relatively short, known or memorizable word sequences. A memorizable sequence is defined as a word that is easily or readily recalled by its spelling and letter composition. For example, a student learning the "s" key according to the prior art practices typing known words such as "self", "silk", and "soap". The problem is that the student learns the "s" key's position within the presented words, and not its location on the keyboard. The "s" key is typed by the left ring finger, but the commonly practiced known or memorizable words for teaching that key are not presented in relation to keyboard keys that are also typically typed by the left ring finger. If the student repeatedly practices typing "self" to learn the "s" key, she is only able to proficiently recall that word as a memorizable sequence and not necessarily retain the location of the "s" key on the keyboard. The conventional exercise of typing "self" for a prolonged period only causes those fingers that are required during the practice session to become conditioned in terms of the exact finger combination of the word. In other words, the student's ability to type the word "self" is a result of knowing the sequence of letters that makeup that word, and the exact fingers moved to strike each of those keys. Thus, the student would memorize the "s" key in terms of the word "self" as a previously known or readily memorizable sequence without necessarily learning the location of the "s" key on the keyboard.
Furthermore, learning the "s" key as part of a known word or readily memorizable sequence does not help the student to determine the position of the "x", "2", "w", and symbol "@" keys. Those keys are not related to the "s" key in the word "self", but are typically struck with the same left ring finger. It is true that the student can practice typing words according to the prior art that contain the "x", "s", "2", "w", and "@" keys and, that over time, if the student practices enough, she will become proficient at typing each one of those keys within sets of words or memorizable sequences. But, the student would have to practice many words that contain the "x" key, the "s" key, the "w" key, and the symbol "@" key, without any assurance that she would consequently be able to type them proficiently.
The problem is that the student tries to memorize the exact position of the various keys contained in the practiced words without actually memorizing the finger movement connection or exact position of the "s" key with respect to the other keys typically typed with the left ring finger. In that event, the student is not able to proficiently recall the exact locations of those keys by forming a mental image of their relative positions with respect to each other, and by mentally visualizing how far to extend and not to extend the left ring finger on the keyboard to type each of them. The same can be said for keys typically typed by the other fingers as well. Word or readily memorizable sequence typing lessons may be good for a student who is already competent on the keyboard, but not for a beginning student. For the beginning student, the prior art methods of teaching typing are difficult and reaching a proficient level of competency is problematic.